www.windaction.org | Impact on Wildlife

Despite advances in safety, power lines remain a threat to raptors
May 15, 2012 by Jim Anderson in The Source Weekly

Birds have no inkling as to the hazards of getting too close to high-powered electricity. As a result, if a bird touches two or more wires, the meeting is fatal. Electricity in wires is similar to controlled lightning; the current is always searching for a way back to the earth.

Also filed under [ Impact on Birds| USA]

Ocotillo wind project advances despite tribal objections
May 12, 2012 by Morgan Lee in San Diego Union-Tribune

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed off on the project's Environmental Impact Statement over the objection of Native American tribal officials who remain concerned about the aesthetic impact of the project on ancestral lands and the potential for disturbing cultural and archaeological artifacts, including possible cremation sites.

Also filed under [ Impact on Landscape| Impact on People| USA| California]

Bird conflict with wind farms
May 4, 2012 by Charlie Keegan in KULR TV 8

The hawks and eagles have been here for generations, they've grown accustomed to the habitat. Now, construction and wind turbines are changing the landscape. "One of the ways that wind turbines come in conflict with birds of prey is the chance of collision, where they'll fly in, and they can be killed by the turbines," Platt says.

Also filed under [ Impact on Birds| Montana]

Wind opponent gets bird's-eye view of Lowell development
May 1, 2012 by Kathryn Flagg in Seven Days

Wright captured the bird's-eye view of the development from between 500 and 1000 feet above the construction site, where GMP is rushing to complete the wind project by the end of the calendar year. Wright finds himself on one side of a fierce debate over wind power in Vermont that pits environmentalists worried about habitat destruction against environmentalists worried about renewable energy.

Also filed under [ Impact on Landscape| Vermont]

New wind turbines could threaten migratory birds
April 27, 2012 in CBC News

"In an area where there could be hundreds of thousands of birds flying through in any one migrating period, this is a very bad place for wind turbines," said Waddell. "It really is a very important resting, feeding, just roosting spot."

Also filed under [ Impact on Birds| Canada]

Where eagles dare not fly: Waterloo looms as wind farms power town revolt
April 21, 2012 by Graham Lloyd in The Australian

When Adelaide University masters student Frank Wang surveyed residents within a 5km radius of the Waterloo wind turbines he found 70 per cent of respondents claimed they had been negatively affected by the wind development and the noise, with more than 50 per cent having been very or moderately negatively affected.

Also filed under [ Impact on Birds| Australia / New Zealand]

Provincial Government works to disable environmental laws
April 17, 2012

New legislation hidden in the government’s Budget Bill 55 will allow the Minister to grant exemptions from existing provincial legislation protecting endangered species which prohibits anyone from harming, killing, or destroying the habitat of a threatened species.

Also filed under [ Canada]

Proposed Lake Ontario wind farm said to threaten wildlife
April 16, 2012 by Jennifer Kalish in EarthTechling

Members of Nature Canada worry that birds and bats will collide with turbine blades. They are also concerned that the development will fragment the unique wildlife habitat, threatening many endangered species such as the Whip-poor-will, Henslow's sparrow and the Rusty blackbird.

Also filed under [ Canada]

Whistleblower alleges gag order kept state park employees from revealing harm to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park from proposed Ocotillo Express Wind Project
March 27, 2012 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine

"To have the Governor's office tell our park officials NOT to comment on Ocotillo, OR ANY OTHER alternative energy projects adjacent to the Park, is a travesty, a violation of the trust between the citizens and the state." - Mark Jorgensen, retired Superintendent, Anza Borrego Desert State Park in an e-mail to ECM.

Also filed under [ Impact on People| California]

New voluntary wind guidelines will fail to protect birds, says leading bird conservation group
March 25, 2012 in American Bird Conservancy

"The United States has had voluntary guidelines since 2003, and yet preventable bird deaths at wind farms keep occurring. This includes thousands of Golden Eagles thought to have died at Altamont Pass in California, and just recently, more than 500 songbirds reportedly killed on two nights last fall in West Virginia," said Fuller.

Also filed under [ USA]

Local wind projects may endanger golden eagles
March 24, 2012 in San Diego News 10

Across the nation, about 450,000 birds are killed every year at wind farms. According to Dave Bittner, executive director for the Wildlife Research Institute in Ramona, golden eagles are another bird species vulnerable to the windmills. "They're big soaring birds and they like to hunt under the towers," he said.

Also filed under [ Impact on Birds| USA| California]

Windmill rules irk birders
March 23, 2012 by Matthew Daly in Associated Press

The American Bird Conservancy, an advocacy group that has pushed for mandatory standards, said voluntary guidelines are largely unenforceable and will do little to protect millions of birds killed or injured by wind turbines. The group "supports wind power when it is ‘bird-smart.' Unfortunately, voluntary guidelines will result in more lawsuits, more bird deaths and more government subsidies for bad projects," said Kelly Fuller, the group's wind campaign coordinator.

Also filed under [ USA]

Occupy occupy D.C. wind turbine memorializes dead birds, despoiled land
March 12, 2012 in National Center Public Policy Research

"At some point the slaughter of birds and bats by taxpayer-subsidized wind turbines is going to trigger serious legal action," added National Center Senior Fellow Bonner Cohen, Ph.D. "If the full force of the Migratory Bird Treaty and the Endangered Species Act were brought to bear on these unsightly killing machines, investors would turn their backs on this artificial industry in a heartbeat."

Also filed under [ Impact on Birds| USA]

Wind energy set to grow six-fold in California, but concerns also rise
March 10, 2012 by Miriam Raftery in East County Magazine

“Our community and surrounding area will be devastated if Invenergy is allowed to build their 125 new turbines on Campo tribal land, and Iberdrola Renewables is allowed to build their Tule Wind project in McCain Valley with 134 turbines, and Enel Green Power is allowed to build their 80 or so turbines in Jewel Valley and McCain Valley,” Bonfiglio wrote.

Also filed under [ Impact on Landscape| California]

State approves wind farm near wildlife refuge
March 9, 2012 by John Murawski in News Observer

The N.C. Utilities Commission said Thursday that it had no legal authority to reject the Pantego Wind Energy Facility, which would spread over 11,000 acres in Beaufort County. But the state commission said the wind farm can't move ahead until it receives state and federal environmental permits and meets other strict conditions.

Also filed under [ North Carolina]

BLM defers huge China Mountain wind project for two years
March 8, 2012 by Rocky Barker in Idaho Statesman

The Bureau of Land Management will defer for two years a final decision on a huge wind farm on the Nevada border while it considers how to keep sage grouse from listing under the Endangered Species Act. BLM suspended its environmental study of the proposed China Mountain Wind Energy project.

Also filed under [ USA| Idaho]

Campaign tries to win support for western Palm Beach County wind farm
February 24, 2012 by Andy Reid in Sun Sentinel

The main objection facing Sugarland Wind is the bird deaths expected from putting towering, fast-spinning blades between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, two prime destinations for migrating birds, wading birds and birds of prey. Sugarland backers have said they expect about three to four bird deaths per tower per year.

Also filed under [ Impact on Landscape| Florida]

Wind farm on hold over bald eagle concerns
February 24, 2012 in United Press International

"I don't think that the American people are ready to watch Minnesota's nesting bald eagles be destroyed on behalf of a Texas millionaire." The commission's decision highlights an emerging conflict between a demand for clean energy and growing evidence wind farms can kill hundreds of thousands of birds and bats a year.

Also filed under [ Minnesota]

Bald eagles win a round against Red Wing wind farm
February 24, 2012 by Josephine Marcotty in Star Tribune

Bald eagles won an unexpected victory Thursday when Minnesota regulators delayed a wind farm near Red Wing for at least a year because the developer failed to produce an adequate plan to protect America's national symbol and other flying creatures.

Also filed under [ Minnesota]

Controversial Goodhue wind farm environmental impact plan rejected
February 24, 2012 by Stephanie Hemphill in Minnesota Public Radio

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission rejected a developer's plan to protect eagles and other wildlife that might be harmed by a controversial wind farm project in the southeastern region of the state. ...Neighbors who oppose the project packed the hearing room and took turns to speak about flaws they see in the project.

Also filed under [ Minnesota]